As we head into a new year of travel adventures, here’s a look at a few products that you might find as indispensable to your journey as a passport.

Paul Mitchell Ion Dry Travel

Though it’s a bit bulkier than your average travel dryer, the little bit of extra weight in Paul Mitchell’s Ion Dry Travel lends a solid, sturdy construction. Available for the first time in December 2009, the dryer minimizes drying time and infuses moisture into the hair using negative ions. The result is a sleek mane a bit quicker than the dryer’s competing counterparts, and depending on your hair type, you might even be able to skip the heat styling afterward since three temperature settings and a styling nozzle provide pretty smooth results on their own. The bonuses – the dual voltage cord is adaptable to most foreign outlets, the folding handle makes packing more compact, and the sparkling silver paint job is a pretty plus.

You may have seen Lindsay Phillips SwitchFlops before, flips flops with interchangeable straps and accessories that make them look brand new each time you step out in them. Now, apply the idea to a ballet flat and you have the same great money-saving idea for weather when toes need to be covered. Comfy flats can be dressed up by snapping on the Danielle, a bronze disc with a topaz jewel center, or the Kelsey, a gold dome shaped snap encrusted with multicolored rhinestones. With black, silver, and bronze flats, the mixing and matching is almost endless.

Thank goodness, for fashion’s sake, cellular earpieces are getting smaller and smaller. This simple Bluetooth is miniscule, but has everything you need – it guards against wind noise, has dual mic technology to declutter background noise, and has a unique soft gel ear tip that creates a custom fit and eliminates the need (and ugly look) of an over-the-ear hook. But one of the coolest parts is the sleek charging case. The size of a lipstick case, it has an LCD screen to display the charging level and an internal rechargeable battery so you can charge up sans the wire while away from home or the office.

If you take your laptop on the road and risk picking up a virus or damaging it while on the go, try protecting precious vacation photos and vital work documents with a SanDisk Ultra Backup before you go. Ranging in size from 8GB to 64GB, the USB sticks offer one-push protection through a button on the disk that automatically backs up up the files you specify.